Introduction

This chapter examines what COVID-19 and the response to it has revealed, in the context of housing and homelessness. Our argument is that responses have been limited by what is deemed possible by current housing politics. It goes on to consider the possibilities for a different housing politics, postpandemic, suggesting that we need to find something new, something between the promotion of the entrepreneurial individual and a collective response characterized by uniformity, exclusion and authoritarianism. Perhaps the description of classical music's response to COVID-19 restrictions may provide a useful metaphor. Socially distanced performances and reduced numbers of instrumentalists produce what has been described as an ‘orchestra of soloists’. Applied to housing, this suggests a possibility of combining the individual expression of identity through home and housing simultaneously with a collective effort to achieve a minimum standard of provision. The method may be as important as the goal. We should not be afraid to explore alternatives, to trial messy and slow interventions as long as they reflect an inclusive, democratic and accountable politics as we search for an alternative to the current failed model of marketized housing provision and a discredited albeit collective past.

Housing, homelessness and COVID-19

COVID-19 ratchets up the cruel consequences of the poor-quality housing and homelessness provision that have been a long-standing feature of England's housing settlement. Mortality statistics suggest a correlation between likelihood of death from the virus and overcrowded, shared or temporary housing, a correlation with particularly devastating implications for BAME people who are disproportionately poorly housed. Housing conditions make it difficult to self-isolate, shared facilities enable the spread of the virus, and a lack of access to outside space exacerbates poor mental and physical health. Living on the streets puts those whose life expectancy is already dramatically reduced – pre-pandemic a street homeless man could expect to live to 47 and a woman to 43 – at increased risk from the virus and increases the vulnerabilities of those front line services which work with them. While a £3.2m initiative to provide emergency accommodation provided shelter for 15,000 street homeless people, the accommodation did not work for many rough sleepers; meanwhile new populations of street homeless have emerged, stimulated by job losses, relationship breakdown, and the intensification of domestic violence and mental health issues that have been a feature of lockdown.